Its rare to see a player develop as much as Lamar Patterson has since he first arrived at Pitt 5 years ago. But the redshirt senior winger is certainly worthy of 2013-14 ACC Player of the Year consideration.
Tonight, Patterson was once again terrific as he scored 28 points (8-14 from the floor) including a blistering 12-14 from the line. He also added 4 steals, 7 assists and 7 rebounds to lead Pitt over Maryland 83-79 tonight at the Comcast Center in University Park, MD.
Patterson has taken his game to a whole new level this season and is putting together one of the greatest basketball seasons in Pitt hoops history.
That said, the Panthers did fall behind early 11-5 in the first half due to some strong play from Maryland’s point guard, Dez Wells, who scored 19 points on 6-11 shooting and 7-9 from the charity stripe.
But as has been the case all season, Pitt continued to chip away, rebound and play sound defense. The Panthers also received well-balanced scoring contributions from center Talib Zanna (16 points), point guard and Maryland-native James Robinson (13 points) and shooting guard Cameron Wright (12 points) to lead at half-time 42-37.
Maryland (11-9 overall and 3-4 in the ACC) kept the game close late in the 2nd half behind 18 points from shooting guard Jake Layman and 13 points off the bench from reserve guard Nick Faust.
But each time Maryland surged, Pitt counterpunched. Despite being outscored 15-9 in the final 4 minutes of the ball game, Pitt outrebounded the Terrapins 37-28 and forced 17 turnovers.
The Panthers also received some valuable minutes from Maryland-native and reserve forward Jamel Artis, who scored 8 points on 2-5 from the floor as well as a perfect 4-4 from the line.
In the end, Pitt (18-2 overall and 6-1 the ACC) had just a little more depth and experience than the young Terrapins and pulled out a hard-fought road victory.
Next up: Showdown Monday (1/27) vs Duke 7pm EST on ESPN at the Pederson Events Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Standing room tickets have been selling for $100 each in what might be the biggest regular season home basketball game in Pitt history.